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Talk:A Royal Problem/@comment-27578467-20170719041327/@comment-4531340-20180217112203
I can assuage your first fear - Starlight confirms pretty much straightaway that she spots what the problem is, and although she does some further investigating to find out the specifics, as well as each side of the conflict, the basic problem isn't played as something that needs to be figured out over a significant portion of the episode. As for the second, I personally don't see Celestia being passive-aggressive there - she seems like her normal pleasant public self. Fair enough about Starlight - I mean, I obviously love her (she's my second favorite character right now, in fact), but if you're just kinda neutral about her, I suppose I can understand that, haha I suppose it's more making explicit what I had already kind of inferred about Celestia - that being that the whole "flawless maternal figure and magnanimous ruler", while it is certainly a part of her, is also partially a mask that she uses in order to not display to her subjects her flaws, her vulnerabilities. It makes her more relatable - and also I would imagine a lot of royals have to do that sort of thing (well, at least the good ones, anyway). I mean, it was hinted at in the past (both Gala episodes definitely hinted strongly at Celestia's playful side, and then of course Ponyville Confidential suggested how Celestia might not be so graceful and ladylike in private - and as far as Luna, her flaws were a little more explicit than Celestia's before this episode) Also, discovering how much both princesses genuinely care about the ponies around them is also quite nice (even if their gestures are, arguably, token, they still don't have to do them). Finally, going back to the whole vulnerabilities thing, that is definitely explored nicely here, as you get a sense of how lonely and tough it must have been for Celestia after she had to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon for those 1,000 years, especially (at least, I'd imagine) the first couple decades - which would also explain her reticence to send Twilight off as first broached in Celestial Advice (well, I'd imagine that, losing Sunset Shimmer to her desire for power, and perhaps other events in the 1,000 year span between the banishment of Nightmare Moon and the beginning of the series), but I'm rambling now, so I digress. Plus, it shows how difficult each princess's job is, which is nice, as that way, the people always complaining about how the princesses (aside from Twilight) never do anything have less of a point, haha To be fair, I know how our tastes quite clearly differ, but I was never too hot about that episode, whereas I'd probably call this episode my favorite of the season (even above The Perfect Pear, Fame and Misfortune, and Rock Solid Friendship). Wish I could help you with that, but honestly, after the Japanese dub was cancelled after the end of season 2, I mostly stopped following foreign language versions of FiM altogether.